


welcome week

by emiOCs (emifail)



Series: Dice North Dragons Senior High School [1]
Category: Novus Arx, Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Chatting & Messaging, Childhood Friends, Dorms, F/M, Flirting, Gay Panic, Gen, M/M, Project runway - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-20
Updated: 2014-03-20
Packaged: 2019-11-01 08:18:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17863742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emifail/pseuds/emiOCs
Summary: what:students are getting settled into their new rooms and freshmen are getting the hang of the school in general.when:1 week before Fall classes begin





	1. artie & easton

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Ah, well." Easton crosses his arms. "The first family they put me with lived across the street from the Alderina's. No one was home, I was out playing in the street and got hit by a car."
> 
> He shrugged it off and pointed to the scar above his eyebrow. "Artie's dad is a doctor and he made sure I didn't bleed out in the middle of the street!!"
> 
> "What the fuck," Toivo said eloquently.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **artie:** emifail  
>  **easton:** deckthisout  
>  **toivo:** kayartics  
>  **eivee:** deannon

Artie and Easton arrived bright and early on day one of welcome week. It was still hours before any of the scheduled events, but none of them were mandatory and they wanted some time to settle in first.

Upon opening the door to an empty room, Artie could only assume his new roommate hadn't shown up yet. (It was 8 am, after all - he didn't expect anything else.)

"It's too bad we didn't get the same floor this semester, huh?" Artie said to Easton, slipping off his backpack and letting it fall onto one of the beds. Easton puts down one of Artie's suitcases gently on the floor in the room. He's a great best friend and big strong friends always do the best they can to help out!

"Yeah man, but look - I'm only right below you!" He taps the floor with his foot and sets the rest of Artie's belongings down. "And I've been thinking; got this great idea from a show I was watching the other day." Easton bounces over to inspect the room. "Just have to find the vent and I've already got the cans and the string!"

One of Artie's brows slowly raise and his lip quirks up in a half-smile.

"Am I really directly above you?" he asks, amused. He's not sure what to think of the can-and-string idea, but he isn't about to stop Easton during of one of his moments. Easton moves back into the hallway to re-orientate himself.

"If I read the map right, you are! And you _know_ I'm great with my rights and lefts. Well, not so much rights and lefts, but Easts and Wests I _totally_ got down." Artie rolls his eyes and gives his head a shake.

"Who is your roommate again?" Artie asks, opening his bag and starting to rummage through it. He pulls out a phone charger, some notebooks, folders, a pencil bag, and some other miscellaneous junk before standing up and walking to the windowsill. Part of the main courtyard is visible from his room and he serenely watches tables being set and balloons being brought out.

"It's Jojo. You know big guy with dreads in our year?" Easton comes back in from the hallway. "He plays football pretty cool guy, but at least I don't have Atlas pining after Theia anymore."

He leans over and pushes on Artie's mattress, testing out the firmness of it. "Who you got - Ariel, was it?"

"Areli, I think?" Artie replies, before sliding the window open. No screen ... is this regulation? Not a very good idea for kids their age to be trusted with open windows. Good thing Easton is on the first floor. "I liked Atlas! Though I suppose I didn't have to live with him." He smiles sympathetically.

"Nah, Atlas was cool! I just think I kinda weirded the guy out a bit. He changed in the bathroom like every day, did you know that?" Easton falls back onto Artie's bed. Hey, not bad, not too uncomfortable for this school. Hopefully whoever this Arelai guy is he doesn't mind Easton being around all the time.

"Probably just shy," Artie counters before going over to the rest of his bags on the floor. He unzips a suitcase and rummages through it, shrugs, and then dumps all of its contents onto the floor. This bag is mostly clothing, but a few cans roll across the floor and one manages to find its way under his bed. "This is always my favorite part," he says with a laugh.

"I just hope we both got lucky with awesome roommates this year," said Easton. "Arnam threw me out of your room once a week!"

"He got ..." Artie cringes a little. "... better? After a while." He starts throwing clothes into one of the dressers in the closet. "You have to admit you deserved it a few times, though."

In my defense, you two are the same size ..."

And it was dark."

And I was drunk."

"The fact that you were drunk in someone else's room isn't a very good defense, Easton."

Easton sits up abruptly on the bed. "Okay, but it was your room too, and I slept in _your_ bed more than _mine_. Besides, Arnam definitely felt me up before shoving me off the bed. I know the difference between an ass tap and an ass grab."

"That didn't necessarily mean you were allowed to sleep there ..." He sighs and ignores the last part as he folds a pair of shorts in his hands. "We'll have to check with this semester's roommate to see if he's okay with you being here. And we'll have to respect his wishes, okay?" He puts the shorts in the drawer and grabs another pair. "Arnam was pretty forgiving, but I don't want to get off on the wrong foot with Areli. We can hang out in your room, too? Heck, even the common rooms are huge ..." Artie's apparently doing that thing again where he subconsciously prepares for everyone to dislike Easton.

Easton crosses his legs, the guy can't stay still in one position for long. "I mean, I don't know Jojo too well, but you're friends with like, everyone, so he'll be down." He pauses when Artie turns around and gives him the “Easton look”. "BUT I'll be sure to ask and respect his wishes.”

How bout this; when he comes, I'll make sure to not be around and you can introduce us later. I promise to be wearing a shirt this time." Artie laughs as he remembers last time he had to introduce Easton to someone new. And the time before that. Come to think of it, it's hard to think of a time Easton wasn't shirtless for his introduction. What a strange coincidence.

"I don't know if I've ever even spoken to Jojo, honestly." He stops to visibly think. "Was he the one hosting that party you dragged me to last year? I didn't really talk to him so much as he made babbling noises in my ... direction." He had been quite inebriated!

"Uhhhh. Big guy, dreads." Easton has a habit of talking with his hands and tries to show Artie about how tall and wide he's talking here.

"WAIT I know!" Easton jumps off the bed and digs in his own duffle bag. It’s a mess and everything is just shoved in so it takes a bit to find what he's looking for. He pulls out a light blue v-neck shirt and shoves it into the drawer Artie is currently putting his shorts in. "And now we even have a back up plan!"

Artie laughs and removes the shirt, putting it in the drawer above. WHERE IT BELONGS. "Why on earth didn't we think of this before?" he asks dramatically.

"It’s because I usually just leave a couple days worth of clothes on your floor." Easton grins and ruffles Artie's hair a bit.

"Do you want to help me hang up posters?" Artie says, but then frowns quickly after. "Shoot, I didn't bring any tape."

“Wait!" he exclaims.

Artie digs into his pocket and pulls out his phone, types for a minute, then puts it back and turns to Easton. "I just like being the first person to post on the school network," he says, grinning sheepishly. Easton's phone buzzes and, with keeping one hand in Artie's hair, he pulls out his brand new iPhone.
    
    
     **Artie** : Does anyone have any tape they wouldn't mind parting with?  
    
    **Toivo** : What.... kind of tape....? =?  
    
    **Artie** : Probably painter's tape! We're hanging things on the wall and I don't want to wreck the paint.  
    
    **Toivo** : I've got scotch tape. If you want. No painters tape, because that tape sucks and doesn't hold anything up. If you want it I can run it to you...? =V  
    
    **Artie** : Scotch could work fine! And yeah if you wouldn't mind that'd be great.

"Who is T-Toy-vow?" asks Easton.

"He's a year younger than us; glasses? Kinda introverted? Has the thing?" Artie draws a line over his brow, imitating a scar. "He should actually be here in a little bit." He starts laying his posters out on the bed and sifts through them. Man. He has some really good taste.

Easton shook his head.

"Nah, don't know him-- hey, hey, hey, come on, that picture is from when we were like 12! Don't put that one up, I look like like such a dork!"

At the word "dork", a knock could be heard from the door. Thank god each of the doors had labels saying who was in them. Toivo probably wouldn't have found the right room otherwise. He stood there, slouching a little and holding a roll of clear Scotch tape in his hand like it was a baby bird and if he dropped it it would die a painful death.

Easton opens the door for Toivo and is taken aback when he has to look up to see who it is.

"Hey Toe-bow, come on in!"

"Um. It's Toivo," he says, pronouncing it like 'Toy-voh'. He sounded almost resigned. He held up the tape, and shuffled in. "Scotch tape, at your service," Toivo muttered, feeling a little awkward and holding the tape out to Artie.

Artie gives Toivo a genuine smile and he takes the tape.

"Thanks, Toivo!" he says, then adds, "Enjoying your first day?" He starts to hang up some of his posters as they talk. Toivo gives Artie a wry sort of smile, glancing over at Easton before watching Artie put up the poster. He had no idea what that band was. Toivo didn't really listen to a lot of music.

"I guess so. It's better this year, since I don't have to do all the freshman orientation stuff, but... I dunno. I guess it's good to be back." He trailed off quietly and started thinking about the teachers he was looking forward to seeing again.

"What are you doing for orientation?" Easton sits back down on Artie's bed and makes himself comfortable. "Clint has me in the dunk tank, but that's not for a few hours."

"Oh! Um..." Toivo trailed off, tapping on his chin for a moment before laughing awkwardly. "I guess not a whole lot of anything. Probably just settling in." He glanced at the ground, kind of embarrassed that he's not helping out. Not that he really wanted to...

"Just settling in is fine, too!" Artie assured Toivo. "I mean, I'm not about to volunteer myself for the dunk tank."

Easton gives Artie a playful shove.

"You're gonna come watch, right?"

Toivo laughed suddenly and then trailed off, feeling stupid. Of course. Of course he didn't have to help out! Jeez. Jeez! He was a wreck. "Right. Yeah. I did all the freshman orientation stuff last year... so... It kind of wore me out last time."

"That's understandable!" Artie assured again. "I only go because I like to meet all the new students. Also Mr. Marcus is really funny at events. He gets ... super into it. Remember last year?"

Toivo snorted, grinning a little.

"Didn't he do that skit with some of the teachers?" It was kind of embarrassing, but it was really funny at the same time. Mr. Marcus was really good at getting the student body to respond. Easton nods.

"Oh man, that was so good! I'm just mad they didn't ask ME to be in the birthday cake."

Toivo shuts his mouth and goes wide-eyed, slowly turning his head to look at Easton. What.

"What"

Artie's laugh trails into a cringe.

"I'd like to point out that I am, in fact, wearing a shirt right now. For the record."

"We're all very proud."

"Wait. What? Is he normally not wearing a shirt?" Toivo's voice kind of raises into an almost screech pitch.

_why is this guy commenting about how he’s wearing a shirt right now does he not normally is he naked a lot why is he here who is this guy he's kind of weird and scary and he's got a really strong presence holy fucking shit toivo is feeling so fucking awkward_

"I mean, with washboard abs like these--" Easton pulls his Orientation leader shirt off over his head, "--why wouldn't I show them off?"

_this is too much jesus christ i can't deal with this shit holyshitohmygodwhyishetakingoffhisshirtfuck fuckfuckfuckfuckfucfuckfuckfukfuckufkcufkcuandhehasahotstomach this is way too much_

Easton notices Toivo checking him out and leaves the shirt around his neck.

"Looking is free, touching ain't," he says and laughs at his own joke.

"OH MY GOD"

_Why would he say that why the fuck would he say that jesus christ toivo wants to die_

Easton laughs and pats Toivo on the shoulder.

"I like this guy! He's funny!"

Toivo jumps as soon as Easton pats him on the shoulder. He whines, his voice coming out in a weird sob/choke. He was going to cry. Crying seemed like a good option right now. He was having a gay crisis and he wanted to cry.

Okay it wasn't a gay crisis. But he was having a crisis and he still wanted to cry.

" _Easton_ ," Artie says in The Voice. "What did we say about the shirt thing?"

_I'm having a gay crisis over an idiot with a nice chest. I can't believe this is happening to me._

Eivee, Toivo’s friend, steps into the room. She notices Easton's chest.

"Um. hi."

"Hey there, pretty lady." Easton smiles at Eivee and pulls his shirt back on, as per Artie's wishes. Toivo just. He just sits down and curls into a ball. This is the worst day of his life. How did this happen.

Eivee made a noise not unlike a dog whistle and promptly almost collapsed into herself.

"H-H-Hi," she mumbles. She tries to keep the disappointment off her face at Easton covering his chest again, but she doesn't quite succeed. "I - um - Toivo - he sent - I'm his best friend." _she's about to spontaneously combust she just knows it_

"Oh cool! This is my best friend, Artie." He pulls Artie under his arm and messes with his hair.

"Hi Artie," Eivee mumbles, not looking at Artie or her phone (which she's typing on) or anything, at all, ever again. She wants Easton's abs to be the last thing she ever sees. She can die happy now.

"You guys seem cool." _Are these two gay? Are they actually gay?_ this is all way better than she expected. Toi has all the funs.

Artie squints and smiles as he's pulled into a hair-ruffle. "That's me!" he replies. Toivo stands robotically, his hands held stiffly at his side and his eyes fiercely focused on the floor. Holy shit did he not want to be here. Holy shit. At least the other guy had a shirt on now.

"Yeah, um. Thanks for." Toivo just sort of stopped talking for a few seconds before continuing, "Coming over here, Eivee. Haaa...."

"No problem!!" Eivee squeaks. She's staring at Easton and Artie like Christmas came early. Her hands are still moving on her phone, but she can text without looking at it from long hours of practice. "I'm really happy to meet your. Um. Your...?"

"Easton. Easton Weston." He lets go of Artie and smooths out his shirt. Dang, these two are kinda weird, but he ain't one to judge. Girls and guys fall at his feet when working, so why is it different when he doesn't have clothes on? Oh wait, he wasn't wearing a shirt. Damn it. Never mind.

"Easton... Weston..." Toivo said flatly. That was worse than his own name. At least Toivo's name just sounded funny, it wasn't directions. He glanced over to Artie and gave him a look. Quietly, Toivo asked, "How did you two even become friends...?"

"Ah, well." Easton crosses his arms. "The first family they put me with lived across the street from the Alderina's. No one was home, I was out playing in the street and got hit by a car."

He shrugged it off and pointed to the scar above his eyebrow. "Artie's dad is a doctor and he made sure I didn't bleed out in the middle of the street!!"

"What the fuck," Toivo said eloquently.

"I woke up with him keeping pressure on the cut in the backseat of his dad's car,” said Easton. "Been best friends ever since."

Toivo cleared his throat and gave a meaningful glance over to Eivee. Hopefully she'd catch it. She probably wouldn't, knowing her.

"Um. Well, I should probably. Get..." He trailed off helplessly and inched toward the door. "Let me know when you're done with that tape, Artie. I don't... really need to stick around, so." He wanted to die.

Every awkward part of the situation flew right over Artie’s head.

"Okay!!" Artie responded, turning away from the poster he was hanging up. "I'll text you when I'm done with it? Actually, what's your room number this year? I can just drop it off when I'm done!"

"Oh. Um. I'm on this floor. Room 1. A2-1," Toivo mumbled, inching toward the door and pulling Eivee with him. "So. Yeah. Just bring it back whenever. See ya."

And he's gone.


	2. artie, areli, & easton

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "There are still some bags downstairs,"
> 
> Artie gave a bit of a blank stare before his eyes widened a bit. "Oh!" he exclaimed, sitting up slightly, "I'm sorry, did you want some help bringing them up?" He yawned and set his book down on the bed.
> 
> There we go. Areli offered a smile, pushing some hair out of his face. "That'd be great."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **artie:** emifail  
>  **easton:** deckthisout  
>  **areli:** whaoanon  
>  **morven:** tannoreth

Areli didn't show up at the dorms until later into the first night, after most of the students were all settled in for the day. It seemed like a decent idea, in order to avoid all the people running around and being in the way and just how hectic it was. Areli however didn't consider that it meant that a lot of people were then in their dorms and well there was no one to help him get all his shit upstairs.

He just took the lightest of the bags up, figuring he can make his new roommate help him with the other ones. It was still some juggling with the bag before he could get the door open and get inside.

Artie was in bed by now, under the covers of the bottom bunk with his nose in a book. He was in his pajamas, sketching absently as his radio softly played Switchfoot. He suddenly looked up from his papers at the noise coming from his door just in time to see someone skinny and well-dressed stumble in. He could only assume this was Areli?  
  
"Well, hello there," he said to the new arrival, clearly a little amused.

"Hey." Areli didn't look over at Artie just yet. He dropped his bag on the floor, trying really hard to make it look like it was sort of effortless, like Areli wasn't as fucking weak as he actually was.  
  
He glanced over to Artie, but focused on the bunk bed first. Oh, no way in hell was Areli going to sleep in a bunk bed, and definitely not the top bunk of a bunk bed. He's not going to climb on and off that every day. No way in hell.  
  
Then he got to Artie, who was already in bed. Areli had been hoping that someone with the name Artemis just happened to have a bad name. That happens sometimes, right? But so far Artie was living up to his name. Nerd.  
  
"There are still some bags downstairs,"

Artie gave a bit of a blank stare before his eyes widened a bit. "Oh!" he exclaimed, sitting up slightly, "I'm sorry, did you want some help bringing them up?" He yawned and set his book down on the bed.

There we go. Areli offered a smile, pushing some hair out of his face. "That'd be great. The welcome week crew or whatever was still around last year to help move people in, but," he shifted his weight from one leg to the other and shrugged. " I guess they're all busy or something." What a shame.

"Oh, well, they were actually here earlier in the day, I guess you just ... missed them all ..." He threw the blankets off and swung off of the bed, feet seeking and finding their slippers, and bounced to his feet.  
  
"How many bags do you have?" he asked, clearly ready to go. Areli was taking advantage of this poor naive child.

Areli looked Artie up and down, and looked about to say something, but bit his tongue. Is this kid a freshman or something, is he like new to high school. Who wears that. At least those pajamas....matched?? There was that. Maybe all his good clothes were still packed away or something? It was only the first day.  
It could be worse, he guessed. He could be ugly and not know how to dress himself.

"Like, two bags and a box--" Areli pointed to the closet. "You don't have a lot of clothes, right?"

Artie remained oblivious to Areli giving him elevator eyes and started walking towards the door.  
  
"Nah, not too many!" Artie assured him. "I really only used about a quarter of the closet ... I was thinking of using my other half to just store other things, unless you needed more space?"

" Well ..." Areli idly followed him out, digging out his phone. " I've got a lot of clothes that need to be hung up, y'know? Like, if you don't need it, that'd be cool. "  
  
Out on the steps of the dorm, sure enough, there were two much larger duffel bags and a smaller box that was probably some kitchen appliance that you wouldn't actually be allowed to have in your dorm, but whatever. That's not stopped Areli before.  
Areli took the smaller box. Of course. Everything else was heavy.

"Then sure!" he replied. "I can just find somewhere else to put it, that's fine."  
  
When they arrived at the first floor, Artie picked up one of the duffel bags to test its weight. He could probably get one of these up at a time, but definitely not both.  
  
"Don't think I can get them both, sorry." He cringed, adjusting the strap on his shoulder before heading for the stairs. "So what grade are you in ..?" He asks, immediately falling back to small-talk. He takes the first set of stairs with ease.

"Junior this year." Areli's got the box tucked under his arm. It looks a lot like he could have probably managed that other bag going up, but just left it there. "And you're a ... freshman, right? "

"Oh, wait, I'm a junior too!" he exclaimed, turning to give Areli a look of surprise. "We're in the same grade and didn't realize, I guess!" At that moment, one of Artie's feet decided it was done taking full steps and caught itself near the top of the stairs. He fell with a yelp, knee knocking onto a step painfully while the rest of him. Well okay. Shit. Areli could barely get the bags up the stairs if he tried, he's not really going to be able to handle the weight of Artie AND the bag. He makes a good effort to get out of the way before Artie comes crashing into him, but it doesn't really work all that well at all. They both get sent down the stairs with a few loud thunks. Luckily they didn't fall down both parts of the stairs, but now they were just laying in the middle of the stairway, Artie and the bag on top of Areli who was trying rather hard to push either of them off.  
  
"Ugh!" Areli had to have bruised something. God. How do you trip going up stairs, who does that. C'mon, kid. Artie was SO. EMBARRASSED.  
  
"OooOOHH GOSH," Artie cried, "Oh no, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!!!" He scrambled around, probably elbowing Areli in the gut in the process, before he managed to get off of him. Areli coughed. Ow. Artie pulled the duffle bag off before crouching down in front of Areli and asking if he was alright. Okay granted that did really hurt, but this also sort of works, sort of. He could definitely get Artie to get the rest of his stuff. Areli sat up a little bit to hold his ankle, hissing through his teeth like he was in more pain than he actually was.

"Aaaa, shit ..." He winced. Artie bit his lip and he raised a hand to his mouth.  
  
"Oh no, is it sprained?!" he cried, cringing slightly. "Don't try to walk on it, I can-- I can get someone to carry you if you like?? Do you think you can make it back to the room?" This is going so much worse than last year's Welcome Week!!!

Areli pouts a little bit, but wow get a load of this kid. "I don't think it's sprained, but ..." Areli is reaching for the stair rail as he talks, pulling himself back to his feet and tentatively touching down with that foot. When he puts pressure on it, he draws in a quick breath between his teeth as if it hurt. It didn't fucking hurt at all he just wanted Artie to bring his bags up.

"I'm sure I can still get that last bag ..." Honestly at this point Areli was seeing how much he could get Artie to do before he noticed he was faking it.

"Oooh, no!" he insisted, holding his hands out defensively. "Stay there, I said don't put pressure on it!! I'm going to go get someone okay, don't move!!" He quickly runs back down the stairs, almost tripping again on the way.

\--

Artie hurried towards Easton's room. He stopped at the door, despite the fact that it was wide open, and knocked frantically on the wall.  
  
"Easton!!" he whined, poking his head into the room, "I need your help for a sec!"

Easton and Jojo were sitting on ground playing cards and snacking out of a bag banana chips. Easton is carefully choosing a card from the middle of a messy pile. Were they playing go-fish? They were definitely playing go fish.  
  
Easton's head snapped up hearing Artie's distressed voice and was up on his feet in a flash. "Okay!" he dropped his hand of cards.

"I was helping Areli bring his bags up and I tripped and I think he sprained his ankle and I need you to help carry him up the stairs because I don't think I can do it myself!!" Everything came out in one breath and he motioned for Easton to follow him to the stairwell.

Easton dropped the towel he had around his shoulders onto the floor - thank god Jojo had made him put on pants before they played the game after his shower.  
  
"Yeah no problem!" Easton was out right on Artie's heels.

\--

After barely a minute Artie comes back with Easton right behind him. Easton. The tall muscular football player (stripper) not wearing a shirt and still a little wet from his shower.

  
"Yikes!" Easton says, giving Areli a look up and down. Seeing how hurt he is? Checking him out? Trying to look concerned so Areli likes him and he can cuddle with Artie more? So many choices. "Should I carry him up to your room?" Areli raises his eyebrows at Easton. Well. He looks from Easton, to Artie, and back, and speaks up before Artie would have a chance. Not that Artie would disagree with that suggestion. Probably.  
  
"That would be really appreciated. There's still a bag of my stuff downstairs, too. I would get it myself, but...."

"Don't sweat it, I can get both!" Easton slings the bag over his shoulder and then scoops Areli up bridal style into his arms before making his way up the stairs.

OH.

Well.

Okay.

Areli wasn't really expecting that, but. Well. Okay, this works. Not too bad. Decent perks for having some nerd as a roommate, he guesses.  
  
"It's Areli, by the way."  
  
"So not Ariel? Like the princess? Because I'm definitely carrying you like one," Easton says.  
  
He carefully sets Areli down on the bed. "Easton Weston, your highness," and gives Areli's hand a kiss.

Artie is missing this entire exchange because he ran back downstairs to get Areli's last bag. He trips on the way back up, landed on the bag a little, but NO ONE SAW!! Hopefully the bag was just full of more clothes.

Okay, really good perks for nerd roommate.

Areli's already forgotten which leg is supposed to be injured, and has the opposite one propped up on the bed. Whatever, no one was paying attention to that.  
  
"Unfortunately not. But honestly, I think Areli rolls off the tongue much better than Ariel."  
  
Easton chuckles a little bit. Yeah, he can totally tell when someone is flirting with him, and this guy definitely into him. What with Easton just having gotten out of the shower and not wearing ... a ... shirt ....

shit

He jumps back. "Oh, god damn it!" Easton swears and then turns back to the closet. "I can't believe I messed this up. I PROMISED Artie!" He starts digging through the dresser in the closet, messing up Artie's neatly folded shirts. He finds his blue v-neck and pulls it on over his head as Artie comes back in.

Areli just stares at him, watching him dig through Artie's stuff until he finds a shirt that was obviously Easton's because there's no way any of Artie's stuff would fit Easton that well.

"I, uh ...” He looks over to Artie as he comes in, and frowns. Naw. No fucking way. Areli's not going to buy that these two were into each other, that just didn't seem right. "There's no way, you two....?" Areli points between the two of them. Easton straight up ignores Areli when Artie comes back in the room looking strained with that big bag and a red bump on his forehead.

"Artie, let me get that." He takes the heavy bag off of Artie's shoulders and drops it onto the floor with a thunk. Easton squints and puts one hand on Artie's shoulder and the other on the side of his face. "You hit your head-- look at me," he says, trying to do his best nurse-Artie voice. Artie is a little startled but doesn't lean away from Easton's sudden check-up.

"What? I'm fine, Easton, it's okay!" Ok, maybe he had hit his head, but there's no reason his friend should know that. Easton gives an audible sigh of relief like a bad soap opera. He takes his hand off Artie's face but leaves the one on his shoulder, not looking at Areli at all.

 _oh come on what the fuck,_ Areli thinks.

Without turning, Artie says aloud to Areli, "Is your ankle doing okay?"

Areli is just sort of squinting at the two of them, really trying to gauge what is actually going on, both right now and in general between them. "... Yyyeeahh, it's feeling better I think it'll be fine. What's ... uh. Who are you again?"  He's just trying to see if they'll introduce each other as boyfriends or anything. Easton was totally flirting with Areli earlier so he's just convinced that there is _no way_ these two are dating. Besides, look at Artie. There is no way he could bag someone like Easton. C'mon.

"Oh right, I'm Easton. Easton Weston." He actually looks over at Areli this time and gives him one of his smiles that could move that dollar bill up to a five. "And I'll probably be over here a lot, if that's cool with you"

"Oh."

Easton lets go of Artie. "I mean, that's okay, right? Artie's, like, my best friend, ya know?"

"Ooh." There it is.

Areli shrugs like its not big deal. "I mean, of course. I don't mind if you come over. I'm sure it'll be fun. "

Easton lights up. "Man, Ariel, you're the best!"

Morven pushes the door to Artie's room open without knocking, because he's holding his right hand in his left. "Hey Artie, you said you had band aids? I CAN'T BELIEVE I cut myself unpacking, everyone's going to think I'm as clumsy as you."

Artie's head snaps up at Morven's arrival. He already has four boxes of band-aids in his hands.

"Morven!! Yes, here they are!" He hurries over to the door and thrusts the boxes in his face. "I wasn't sure what kind you needed but I have the regular kind, the fingertip kind, the really big ones, and these ones have polka dots if you're feeling 'festive.'" He grins. It's adorable.

"Why is everyone in here," says Areli. Easton sits down on the bed next to him.

"Man, and I thought Jojo and I would have the party room."

"Oh??” says Areli. “Are you two going to be throwing parties soon?"  He scoots, half to look like he's giving Easton more room on the bed, but mostly to sit closer. Easton grins and gives Areli a wink.

"Now now - parties would be against the rules, princess."

"Not if you don't get caught."

Damn, this guy was hella flirty! But he's also Artie's roommate and hooking up with him would be kinda weird. But it would also put Easton on Areli's good side? Damn, this was complicated. "... You know Eli's our RA, and he'll let me do whatever I want." 

As adorable as Artie is, Morven is mostly paying attention to Areli and Easton flirting on the bed. Ugh, was he going to have to deal with not just Easton being over here constantly but the stuck-up costume guy from theater club living on his floor as well?

Areli shrugs, swinging his feet as they hung over the edge of the bed. "Besides! It would just be a welcome week party, there's nothing wrong with that!" He was really honestly trying to flirt it up. You know, start the year off on the right foot. He leans over a little more."I could help you plan it all out if you wanted."

Okay hm. Hm. Yeah, this guy wanted his dick. That was definitely code for “invite me over so I can touch you and you can touch me”. A lot. With not a lot of clothes. Easton stands up because wowee he's still in high school and hormones definitely are a thing that happens. "I'll ask Jojo how what he wants to do. Let him know you're eager to help us get everything up and going!"

Areli smiles and leans forward. "That'd be really great! I mean, so long as you're not too busy with anything else." _or anyone else you know whatever your weird fucking nerd friend here or something._

Easton runs a hand through his damp hair, not moving away even tho he probably should. Definitely should. Wowee. "It's welcome week after all, my schedule’s very open." Easton slides over to the door. "Artie, I'm going to go finish my game, I'll see you later! Have fun, kids!!"


	3. eli & kotori

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kotori scoffed and nodded. "Yeah, he was a pain in the ass. And I'm almost positive he kept looking down my shirt!" She gestured at her chest and looked down, frowning a little bit.
> 
> Eli clicked his tongue in a disappointed tone. "Pretty sure he did the same to me. Some men just are awful, aren't they?" He chuckled quietly, turned, and then very clearly stared at Kotori's breasts. Then back at the TV.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **eli:** emifail  
>  **kotori:** kayartics  
>  **cassidy:** deckthisout  
> 

Eli can be found lazing on the couch watching Project Runway and eating a TV dinner.  
  
This is where he belongs. And this is where he will belong for the next week.

Kotori was definitely hiding from her duties as an orientation club member by going up to the third floor of the dorms. Then she heard it. One of her favorite TV shows.

Project Runway.

She came up behind Eli and whispered, "Is this season three?"

" _Holy fuckin' shit_  you scared the hell outta me," Eli replied in monotone. He wasn't visibly shaken, but Kotori had definitely startled him.

"Yeah, season three. You a PR fan too?" He leans back and clearly looks Kotori up and down. She's pretty cute.

Kotori snorted, covering her mouth with her fingers. "Sorry, man," she replied, though she didn't really know if he was being sincere or not.

She leaned over the back of the couch, half intentionally pushing her breasts out and half completely forgetting she even had them, and smiled. "Yeah, I love Project Runway, especially when everyone acts like a stuck up asshole to each other." She gave him a small smile.

"Yeah," he replied, grinning, "It's great. Half the reason I watch this show is for the drama. Fucking blood orange."

Kotori barked out a laugh, grinning. "Jesus Christ, that was the best one yet," she agreed, focusing on the screen. She hopped over the couch, landing near Eli, but not too close to be uncomfortable.  
  
"You don't mind if I watch with you, do you? I know I kind of barged in." She could tell they had a similar sense of humor, the type that took pleasure in seeing people be gigantic assholes. 

"Nah, go ahead," he replied. "Not like this is my room."

He didn't say anything else and continued to watch his show. 

Kotori gave him a smirk and leaned back, getting comfortable as she watched Project Runway with Eli.

Then, quietly, she asked, "Oh, wait, what was your name? I don't think we've ever actually  _talked_." She's pretty sure they had seen each other enough, though. They  _were_  in the same year.

\---

After two hours of sitting in his room and hating himself, Cassidy starts to hear Project Runway loudly coming from the common area. Not that he would admit it to anyone but he has watched every season with his sister. No that was also a lie he watched one season with his sister and the rest by himself in his room with headphones. 

It takes another two hours after that for Cassidy to work up the courage to actually leave the room. He takes his laptop and phone with him and comes to sit down on the couch across from Kotori and Eli without saying anything. 

\--- 

When some guy decided to sit on the other couch, Eli raised his eyebrows, but made no other attempts at communication.  

"I'm Elijah," he said. He didn't ask for her name because she was  _obviously_  just going to give it to him anyway. "I think we were in ... whatsit. We had a math class together? I think." He twirled the remote absently in his hands.  

"Kotori," she offered lazily. She nodded, thinking back. "That was probably it. Last year maybe?" She sat back, getting more comfortable and putting one of her arms on the back of the couch.

As Cassidy sat, Kotori gave a small nod before returning to watching the show. The kid looked kind of familiar, but moody. They didn't need more  _goths_  at this school. 

"Yeah," he agreed. "With the really crabby old guy." God he hated that teacher. Got an A but it took a little more effort than usual.

Kotori scoffed and nodded. "Yeah, he was a pain in the ass. And I'm almost positive he kept looking down my shirt!" She gestured at her chest and looked down, frowning a little bit.

Eli clicked his tongue in a disappointed tone. "Pretty sure he did the same to me. Some men just are awful, aren't they?" He chuckled quietly, turned, and then very clearly stared at Kotori's breasts. Then back at the TV. 

Kotori laughed at his comment, but saw him checking out her chest. Sure, they were nice, and honestly, as long as he wasn't a 40 year old guy she didn't really care, but it was the principle of the thing. As soon as he turned back to the TV, she pulled the pillow out from behind her back and threw it at Eli's head.

Laughter broke out as he raised his hands a little too late. "Hey!!" he cried defensively as the pillow careened into his head, mussing up his hair a bit. "Watch the face; I paid good money for this."

"You paid money for  _that_ face?" Kotori giggled, obviously joking. "Besides, that's what you get for checking out the goods." Still joking, but her tone was a little more serious this time.

"It's a work-in-progress!" he whined, exaggeratedly touching his face as if he were shielding his delicate skin from her. They were missing part of the show now, but he'd honestly already seen this episode - Baumkirchner was about to get booted and, as fun as it was to watching the contestants' dreams being crushed, he had more important matters to attend to.

"Hell, if that's what  _I_  get, I'd hate to see how you treat people who're interested in more than just window-shopping."

He was still pretending to pay attention to the TV, but was clearly focused on testing the waters with this new chick.  _Sort of_  new chick. He was pretty sure this is the first time they've talked, so yeah; new.

She wasn't really interested in watching the show anymore either, once getting past the initial awkward silence, she was having fun talking to this guy. Kotori laughed, winking a little.

"If we're going with shopping analogies, then loiterers will not be tolerated, but paying customers are  _always_ welcome." That was a joke. Mostly.

She smiled at him, glancing at the TV once in a while, but she could see that he was just as interested as she was in the show. Which was 'not very'. 

He clicked his tongue again, adding a disappointed shake of his head this time around.

"A shame; I  _seem_  to have left my wallet in my room. And it's  _so_  far away." He stretched his arms up and over the back of the couch, shirt riding up slightly, and pretended to reach towards his room. It was down the hall.

Cassidy is livetweeting this whole trashy exchange.

Kotori doesn't even pay attention to Cassidy. Cassidy is dumb. And emo. And awkwardly sitting alone.

"Are you saying that if you  _had_  your wallet, you'd be willing to pay?" Kotori asked, her grin widening and her eyebrows raising ever so slightly. She took note about what direction Eli seemed to be reaching, but otherwise didn't make any sudden movements.

"Nah." He ended their weird shopping analogy with a grin, before it got any weirder. "I'm good at finding freebies. It's a bit of a talent."

She was relieved that he stopped it there. Shopping analogies were getting annoying.

"Oh, are you now?" she asked, her voice taking on a challenging tone. "You'll have to demonstrate sometime."


End file.
